Robust observer design for nonlinear uncertain systems with LQ regulators

For a class of uncertain systems with linear nominal dynamics and nonlinear uncertainties, it has been shown (Katayama and Sasaki 1987) that linear quadratic (LQ) state feedback regulators can be used to provide robust asymptotic stability. In this paper, we study the combined observer-controller design problem, based on the linear state feedback regulator proposed by Katayama and Sasaki (1987), so that only output feedback is needed. Both full-order and reduced-order observers are considered. For the full-order observer, we propose an algorithm to synthesize the robust observer gain matrix. It is shown that with the observer it is still possible to achieve robust asymptotic stability. For the reduced-order observer, some conditions are derived to guarantee the robust asymptotic stabilizability of the uncertain systems. The trade-off between the magnitudes of controller and observer gains is clear in our approach. An example is used to illustrate the design process of the robust controller with full-order as well as reduced-order observers.